“Eff! We missed Paskuhan!” That was me inside our training room, checking out the UST website after being told that the supposed Paskuhan date we knew was wrong and that the correct date was that same night. L says she saw it being reported at 24 Oras and UST’s website has it on the 15^th of December too, we were totally devastated.

Paskuhan date cancelled, we still went ahead with our leaves and decided to just spend it shopping for Christmas gifts. I was surprised the next morning when I got a text from one of my officemates that we were in fact correct with our UST’s annual Paskuhan date, it turns out that what 24 Oras reported was the thanksgiving mass that precedes Paskuhan. We haven’t missed it all!

We marched to the UST grounds at around 8pm after a whole day of shopping. There were already queues at the gates as Spongecola Six Cycle Mind blasted from the stage. I studied Architecture in UST for five years but unfortunately lost my ID and still haven’t applied for an Alumni card. I had to resort to asking my cousin to fetch me at the gates as they don’t allow anyone without an ID to enter the grounds for obvious security concerns.
The first thing we did was meet up with our office friends which was harder than expected. Phone connection was already problematic due to the huge crowd of people also looking for their friends. Movement too was very much hindered by the sea of Thomasians along the sprawling UST grounds. It was an actual miracle that we were able to locate them!

We had putobungbong for dinner along the sidestreets of the campus and was rushing back into the gates as we saw the first explosion of colors in the sky. The Paskuhan fireworks which usually ends the event was starting early!
We were lucky enough to get closer and be under the ballooning colors streaking across the black night. I had no time to prepare both my camera and tripod and had to resort to shooting handheld. And my camera won’t fire! It was stuck and I had to remove both my battery, sd card and reset everything before it worked again.

It actually felt different being under the fireworks than shooting it from afar. I felt like being a part of it rather than a mere spectator. I guess my camera jamming was not such a bad thing; else I’d be again too busy clicking than experiencing it.
We visited the mobbed concessionaires again for snacks, shirts and whatnots (they have a Starbucks stall again); trudging at a snail’s pace just to get some fries and drinks.

With nowhere to sit, we did what the others did; sit on the grass with our snacks listening to the band playing at the football field.
I roamed a bit while they were finishing their snacks but was not able to go far. Urbandub was playing! I ran back as fast as I could and we were in the middle of the football field in no time. The sound system was not that good, but heck it was Urbandub, nothing else mattered. Gab and company did their magic and ended the night on a high.
Everyone was still waiting for the fireworks which usually end the Paskuhan nights, but it seemed that the fireworks earlier were it. The night ended before midnight which was really too early.

I was actually expecting more from this year’s Paskuhan as they said this is the actual 400^th year of the university but was a bit disappointed with what they had. The fireworks were not as long and grand as last year’s and the celebration was too short. Sigh, I’ll just cross my fingers for a better Paskuhan next year.